His 2008 “Spark of Insanity” tour, which includes a 7:30 p.m. stop at Santa Ana Star Center on Jan. 14, is expected to gross $25 million in ticket sales.

So, just who is Jeff Dunham?

If you’ve seen any of his specials on the Comedy Channel, including “Arguing with Myself,” or his new Christmas special, you might agree with those who say he’s the best ventriloquist out there. If you haven’t seen him, an evening at the Star Center might be just the ticket. If, as Reader’s Digest notes, “Laughter is the best medicine,” then a dose of Dunham could send tears of laughter down your cheeks.

“What makes this performer the best at what he does is the believability factor,” one reviewer wrote. “Dunham’s characters have more personality than a lot of people I know.”

Dunham was even profiled on CBS’s “60 Minutes II.” Correspondent and actress Candice Bergen, daughter of the legendary ventriloquist Edgar Bergen interviewed the comic. Between jokes and laughs, Ms. Bergen said Dunham was “flat out funny.”

A native of Dallas, Dunham has come a long way since breaking into show business at age seven. As an only child, he invented “a menagerie of characters” that helped ease his natural shyness. Dunham began teaching himself ventriloquism with a plastic Mortimer Snerd puppet.

His first show was in the third grade.

“It was for an oral book report on Hansel and Gretel,” he said. “I spent about three minutes on the book and 20 minutes berating my classmates.”

Dunham went on to pursue his career while picking up a degree in communications from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

“While most people were going out on weekends and partying, I was flying off somewhere to do my show, “ he said, admitting that in Waco, he quickly became “somewhat of a big fish in a small pond.” 

In 1988 he moved to Los Angeles and discovered a larger pond filled with performers whose proficiency in comedy overshadowed his technical skill as a voice thrower. After sharpening his act at the Improv, the Comedy & Magic Club and other comedy venues, Dunham earned his first “Tonight Show” spot in April of 1990, putting the audience on the floor and himself on the couch next to Johnny Carson.

Dunham was also voted “Funniest Male Stand-Up Comic”’ at the American Comedy Awards, an honor shared with the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Foxworthy, and Robin Williams. Additionally, viewers recently voted Dunham number one in Comedy Central’s “Standup Showdown.”

The comedian and his grumpy old-man partner, Walter, have made several appearances on Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show,” and they’ve been featured on such television shows as “Hollywood Squares,” “Entertainment Tonight” and “Good Morning America.”

He’s the only person ever to win the prestigious “Ventriloquist of the Year” award twice, and he was nominated “Comedian of the Year” by the TNN Music City News Country Awards.

Dunham has a quintet of pals that accompany him on his 40-week tour, which includes an estimated 250 shows: “Peanut,” who claims origin from an uncharted island in Micronesia; “Walter,” an everyman-curmudgeon with opinions on everything; “José Jalapeño,” the chile on a stick; “Melvin,” a superhero with X-ray vision; and “Achmed,” the dead terrorist.

“These guys are my secret weapon,” Dunham said. “There’s some sort of unspoken rule that allows them to say things and make observations that no mere human could ever get away with, and it’s all under the guise of comedy.

“If people walk away thinking, ‘Those guys were funny,’ rather than, ‘He was a great ventriloquist,’ then I’ve done my job.”